Any UKIP supporters on here? What exactly are you voting for?

[chicaguapa]

I confess I don't know what the UKIP policies are, but wondered if the people voting for them could explain to me what they are please. Thanks.

We must get the swan thing right. Everyone living here should learn that only the Queen is allowed to kill swans.

www.ukip.org/content/ukip-policies/3038-ukip-immigration-policy

No one need worry about UKIP as they will not win power in a general election but certainly some of the concerns of those voting for them should be considered by the other parties.

We are one of the best countries on the whole planet for acceptance of people from abroad. We have been a haven for people for hundreds of years including Jews fleeing Europe in the 1500s I think it was. London is one of the most mixed tolerant cities on the planet.

The policies in the UKIP document referenced above do not look particularly radical to me - Australia has a points system. I am not a UKIP supporter but I really don't think people need to worry.

I find it odd that this thread has been so focused on debating immigration in the abstract, when the core issue that has been ignored by mainstream politics and which UKIP has seized upon as its core platform, is the EU democratic deficit plus the resulting open border policy and upsurge in economic migration from accession states.

The second issue prompting their rise in popularity is the domination of mainstream politics by wealthy career politicians, largely privately educated, living in a metropolitan bubble with largely homogeneous views and only the vaguest flavour of 'right' or 'left'. Lots of non-metropolitan people are a bit fed up with it. This has been compounded by the rise of spin in the press, which has produced a stifling, hypocritical discursive hegemony in which any deviation from a set of sanctioned views instantly puts the deviant beyond the pale, thus shutting down all but the narrowest of debates.

I would rather stab myself in the eye with something rusty than vote UKIP; I think many of their policies are not very well thought through and I'm not convinced of their fitness for office. But I think they are very good for British politics as a whole. I'm delighted to see issues being debated that have been subject to a conspiracy of silence for years, such as integration versus multiculturalism. And I think we have them largely to thank for the fact that politics is becoming passionate and interesting again, after many many years of bland centrist flannel.

Let's not go mad.

The 13th Century saw us act rather naughtily towards Jews too.

Didn't we leave one lot on Dogger Bank? (knee high at low tide, quite high at high tide, with strong currents).

Over the years they have often been persecuted for one significant difference... Money.

The same sort of rules that apply to Muslims now, used to apply to Christians, hence Jews were the money lenders - a term distinct from Banker, and slightly pejorative.

IIRC the 13th Century pogroms were due to the King at the time owing a little too much money.

I agree that happened. The Romans were also not that nice to my Anglo Saxon ancestors and the Vikings are probably responsible for a lot of us with blonde hair or our children and they invaded here and raped and pillaged. However despite all that for hundreds of years it is true that the English have welcomed many foreigners, much much more so than many other nations and I think most of us are very pleased we are that kind of tolerant country, quiet, self deprecating, calm and we say sorry when people tread on our toes and form orderly queues. People like that here - they come here in part because of our rule of law. Russians know their families and wealth will be safe here.

In the UKIP list I linked to above which I only just found today I don't see anything much there which is too objectionable.Australian type points system etc.

Don't forget that both of Farage's wives are foreigners.

Why am I worried? This is from UKIP's own site:

Any future immigration for permanent settlement must be on a strictly limited and controlled basis where that can clearly be shown to benefit the British people as a whole and our economy.

So an old person like myself - I'm 52 - in only modest health who has basically done most of the benefitting to the UK already in my 30-year working life could well fail.

Go look at the falling voting figures for the BNP this year. Where have those votes gone to?

jesus. no one eats swans. i don't need anyone to explain to me why swan eating is not done.

i imagine the list of countries where it is usual to hunt,kill and eat animals in an urban setting is a rather short one.

i mentioned it because it is an example of a stupid and (i thought obvious) myth about immigrants. apparently one that otherwise rational people have no trouble believing.

It's more 'us' and 'them'.

chibi.

How is it a 'myth'? To the best of my knowledge it happened. It isn't a myth. Admittedly there were some rather outlandish claims (ie swans are a delicacy in this or that country).

I can't remember the people involved (Eastern European) but although the Swan killing occurred in an urban area, it doesn't say the people were from an urban area. Some of the big wooded areas in Poland (for example) are well hunted... you should see them in Sept/Oct pckng the mushrooms! Or hunting deer.

It's only like shooting duck or grouse. Apart from the sensibilities of the native people.

sieglinde, it does say 'future'. Aren't you already here?

in my home country people hunt deer.

they do not hunt deer in the middle of a city even in a park ffs

i would love to know which eastern european nation it is where it is customary to slaughter and eat wild animals in the heart of a city

Voting UKIP Is Not a Protest, It?s an Own Goal

Increased support for UKIP in recent local elections has been interpreted as a protest against the out of touch, carbon copy mainstream parties. For any voter seeking to protest our broken political system, voting UKIP is a huge own goal. UKIP allow the mainstream parties to keep the conversation on immigrants and the EU, and off the major issues of our time.

cont'd

scriptonitedaily.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/voting-ukip-is-not-a-protest-its-an-own-goal/

Sieglinde: if you're already here, it won't affect you.
That quote is referring to future immigration.

Sieg-but that's future immigrants. Of which you are not.

sieglinde

Are you being deliberately obtuse? It quite clearly states FUTURE immigration. This will not affect anyone currently in the UK legally now. Yourself included i assume.

So no reason to fear anything. As someone who works for a living you have far more to fear from your freedoms and the UK's competitiveness being eroded by misguided wasteful policies of the Labour party.

Im a UKIP voter and i want people like you and more recent immigrants in our country to feel valued and be able to contribute. I do think however slowing down the rate of population growth is a good idea.
And removing ourselves from the behemoth of undemocratic dictac from Brussels to be an even better one.

I agree with meddies mum 100%. They are my reasons also, need I say more and I am in my very early sixties. All 3 major party's are liars and cheats and corrupt.
From a [ ONCE WAS ] traditional Labour supporter.

I don't find the quote above very controversial. It is the Australian points system operated in many many states. Just about everyone in the UK accepts that we cannot let everyone enter and that has always been the case. At the moment we have to let those from the other 26 EU states in just as they have to let us into their states.

I do not agree with the tightening of restrictions which stop the Chinese spending money here on holiday and which make it hard for visiting lecturers to come and new hires for leading businesses to enter. That is working badly and against Britain's interest. I do agree with current restrictions on fake students as there is an industry out there for people who have set up bogus universities and students do not attend courses and use it as a means of entry. Clearly we need to police that better as I hope we are now doing.

So, in a electoral area where my vote has as much impact as a piss in the ocean (unless I vote for the only party ever to have been elected in the area) , and given my issues with voting for any of the main parties as outlined above. And given my desire to be heard on the one issue none of the parties will discuss (An in/out Europe ballot); who do you suggest I cast my vote for?

Jaywall I think it's great that you want people to feel valued, so why not people with disabilities?

While I doubt very much that UKIP will replicated its success in a general election, they have picked up on some concerns.

I heard on the radio today that the government has not actively "policed" the national minium wage for two years. Pound to a penny there are foreigners doing the jobs for less than the minimum wage and therefore driving down wages and living standards we have fought hard for.

Much as it pains me (enormously) I have to agree with Xenia (ouch, ouch) about UKIP's proposals on immigration aren't ridiculous. Will lead to individual family problems, but no system is perfect.

It's UKIP policies on Environment-related & public sector spending that appal me.

I noticed a point made earlier in the conversation but I don't know for sure what it was referencing?
What is UKIP doing to make it harder for women in the workplace?
Is it to do with maternity leave?
Random question, is there a UK party out there which wants to offer parental leave, rather than maternity leave?

Dawndonna,

My personal views are that they should feel valued. Can you share a link to whatever it is you are talking about?

I am almost too scared to post this.
My step sister and her 2 daughters have been elected as UKIP councillors in Boston.
Please don't chuck me off MN I am a Socialist honest.
OH the shame.

Ooh were they the ones on the news? One of the girls is called felicity?

Yes, both of Farage's wifes are foreigners, and Hitler was Austrian, came to Germany because he didn't like the multi-cultural makeup of society there and then decided that only people of German blood could be members of the nation - that would have excluded him for a start.